A standard grinding machine, for example a fine-grinding machine for honing or finish grinding a camshaft or crankshaft, has a tool holder carrying the grinding tool and itself mounted on a reciprocal or linearly oscillating tool slide. The required high-speed linear oscillation is imparted to this slide from an input shaft which is rotated continuously about an input axis and which carries an eccentric. The slide is provided with a connecting pin extending along and centered on an output axis parallel to and offset from the input axis, and a link is coupled between the eccentric and the connecting pin. A roller bearing supports the input end of the link on the surface of the eccentric.
As a rule the output end of the link is supported on the connecting pin by another roller bearing, normally a small-gap needle bearing. The function of this output bearing is to eliminate the angular oscillation of the output end of the link so that only the linear oscillation in the plane defined by the two axis is imparted to the tool slide. Thus this output bearing is subjected to high-speed reversals, often in the neighborhood of 1500 per minute. As a result its service life is extremely limited and, in fact, this output bearing needs replacement at a rate that itself determines the mean time between failures of the grinding machine.